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A lot of very talented and independent game developers spend their time trying to amass enough creativity and ideas to work on something big but starting off in the app business. We’ve got billions of apps just waiting to be downloaded and be played with. Well, one guy thought of making an app that’s a social experiment, something that will have everyone playing the game together. How is this game different from Angry Birds or Temple Run? First off, this game won’t use any birds nor any running at all. What you will be doing is collectively trying to chip off every bit of the surface of a massive cube, all the while trying to get inside the cube, because that’s your goal. That’s the entirety of this social experiment. It’s to see how far people are willing to know something that’s being kept from them and the only way to get to it is to hack away surfaces of smaller cubes within this huge black cube. This is the creativity Peter Molyneux has put into his game called “Curiosity: What’s Inside The Cube?”

A document recently surfaced containing several new patents from Apple. Among these patents were plans for a dual shock controller. The controller, which holds a striking resemblance to the Playstation 3 controller, is fairly unimpressive. What’s intriguing; however, is what this might mean for the gaming industry.

Early rumors and speculation are pointing to the possibility of the controller working with Apple TV, which has not been as successful as the company had hoped, but that’s not coming from Apple and neither is any other info about the game pad. The picture also seems to show the controller somehow interacting with an iPhone.

So is it possible we could see console gaming hit iOS? Do we want that? (Yes, I do. Very much.) Maybe, but if that’s the case Apple needs to hurry with development and production because a few experts are already forecasting this coming generation to be the last console generation.

What do you guys think? Is the pad for gaming? Apple TV? A really lame way to use your iPhone/iPod/iPad? Do you want to see Apple enter the console gaming market? What kind of exclusive titles would Apple have? Leave your comments below.

A few days ago, owners of Rock Band for the iOS platform were hit with this message:

It was funny because when questioned, Harmonix immediately pointed the blame over to EA:

“EA Mobile is responsible for the publishing and hosting of Rock Band on iOS,” a Harmonix representative said. “We’re reaching out to them to better understand what’s happening with the app.”

… the ensuing fan-hate seemed almost palpable.

Fans of the game flocked to the iOS store, slamming it with 1-star ratings, calling it a rip-off while lambasting EA’s sales practices. Well, as of today, EA has backtracked that message calling it an “error” (in judgement) and the game will NOT be taken down. Here’s their official statement:

“Rock Band for iOS will remain live – the in-app message users received yesterday was sent in error,” a representative for EA told us. “We apologize for the confusion this caused. We’re working to clarify the issue that caused the error and will share additional information as soon as possible.”

They even went through the trouble of notifying iOS users with this little message… how considerate.

Exciting news for those of you with an iPhone and who are getting tired of angry birds. Well, now you can play Mega Man X! This 2d action game can now be at your finger tips for a mere $4.99USD and also features iOS only moves like auto fire, auto charge and auto ladder latch on. 80 levels of godliness along with regular and full screen modes that take advantage of the iPhone’s amazing retina display, make this a game you cannot miss. Find this game in the App Store.

Tom's Shorts Thoughts are based on only a loose understanding of facts or reality. They are not in any way journalism.

For all the flack gaming journalists get for having “polarizing reviews,” the largest bulk of bitching about often comes from scores that swim between 70% – 85%. In any other industry, you would assume those are rather good scores, but for video games, one could be forgiven for thinking, if you only read community feedback, that anything less than an A+ is fail. I used to think this was because gamers are quick to defend or bash something they love or hate, and this is true; however, after spending some time on the Android and iOS store, I think I found the real root of the problem. Specifically, user reviews typically fall under these ranges:

90% – 100%
Given to games people like and will overlook any flaw in the process of assigning this score, regardless of the fact that their review actually has acknowledged some huge problems.

10%
Given to games that are either broken or there are some minor problems that need work, but the game just isn’t for them.

10% (but notes in review that they would give the game a negative score if they could)
People who go out of their way to say they would give a negative score typically do not take the time to actually explain why.

Long story short, fuck user reviews. Most of them are worth dick, and for games valued between $0.99 – $6.99, just pay the fucking money! It’s not like your cutting off your left nut to buy these games, and in the process, you’re supporting some independent developers who really could use the help getting started. Just don’t break the piggy bank in the process and you’re bound to find a gem or two with more than a couple one star reviews.

A bored fan of things Japanese serving out his sentence in Monmouthshire, Wales, was found in possession of several dangerous weapons created out of matchsticks, including one gun with a revolving barrel . Although not to scale (considering how big these are in FF games am I right?) and made from, you know matchsticks, prison guards still feel he is a threat. A source said, “The knives were lethal.” I think we should start worrying, personally, when he starts making matchstick bullets since that’s what kill people, not guns.

Nintendo Wii accessories are old news compared to this rifle-like dock for the iPhone. The appBlaster is an accessory from apptoyz designed specifically for use with their iOS game: Alien Attack. Put your iDevice in the gun and load up the augmented reality shooter game and you’ll be blowing up alien slime in no time. The appBlaster will run you about $32 and comes out July 7th.

Blizzard announced that they are ‘looking at’ making World of Warcraft playable on iOS devices. Obviously the image above is a little misguiding because other than the iPad, I honestly don’t know if the iPhone 4 or any other iOS device could support WoW graphically.

World of Warcraft as part of Blizzard, already has a huge variety of online services and apps that keep them close to their daily players, even when they aren’t on their computers. So since they already run the internet (estimated; some 9 million daily U.S. players), why not just take over everyone’s mobile apple devices.

Greg Street, the WoW forum moderator told Eurogamer, “Everyone I know here has an iPhone or an iPad so we’re huge fans of the hardware. If we could make the right game changes to make that work, it’s something we’d be interested in. It’s not something you’re going to see in the next week or two, but it’s the kind of thing we’re always looking at.” Demos of the game have already been run demonstrating that the iPad has the power to run World of Warcraft, and Street said making an iOS version of the game is all about finding a way to transition the mouse and keyboard controls to touchscreen.

I don’t play WoW and never will because other than this site, I have, um what’s it called? Oh that’s right, a life. But I’m sure all the World of Warcraft freaks out there would explode in their pants if they looked on the app store one day to see an update for a full WoW downloadable game. Parents, go get your children Android phones while you still can.

This is one of my person favorite games on the iPhone. Especially the multiplayer mode because it was done especially well. To hear that this is going to be released on Kinect makes me happy. Finally I have a game I will actually use for the Kinect. The trailer is actually really impressive and funny so check it out.

Doubts: I hope that the lag time is not apparent in Fruit Ninja Kinect because that would make the game BLOW!

I’ve always said the hard times is when the gaming community shows their true colors. Sure, we can be a general group of trash talking dick weasels, but every time there is a fund raiser with gaming at the center of it, gamers seem to open their wallets without second thought. Possibly because they didn’t actually pay for any of their games, but that’s a different discussion. The important news is from the Capcom Unity blog.

Thank you to everyone who has sent inquiries and wished us well during this crisis. We want to reiterate that all of our employees in the Osaka and Toyko regions are safe and well, and we thank everyone for their support.

In response to recent events, Capcom will immediately donate 100 million yen to help victims of the earthquake and communities recover from this tragedy.

Not only that, but for a week, Street Fighter IV on iPhone will be available for 99cents/115yen, and all sales will also be donated directly to earthquake relief efforts. So if you haven’t picked it up yet, it’s dirt cheap and definitely worth it. Plus you’ll feel warm and fuzzy inside knowing you got some charity under your belt.